A typical fluidizable bed includes a receptacle and a porous diffuser board that divides the receptacle into a plenum and a fluidizable medium container above the plenum. A quantity of a fluidizable medium, such as tiny spherical particles, occupies the fluidizable medium container. A filter sheet overlies the fluidizable medium. In operation a fluidizing medium such as ambient air is pressurized and introduced into the plenum. The air flows through the diffuser board, through the fluidizable medium, and exhausts through the filter sheet. The flow of air through the fluidizable medium imparts fluid-like properties to the fluidizable medium so that the medium acts as a quasi-fluid. Fluidizable beds are used for burn victims or other patients who have skin disorders such as pressure ulcers or who are at high risk of developing skin disorders as a result of long term confinement in bed.
Despite the advantages of fluidizable beds they do not offer other therapeutic benefits such as lateral rotation therapy. Lateral rotation therapy involves gently rotating a patient laterally left and right to help prevent pulmonary complications. Lateral rotation capability is easily incorporated in a non-fluidizable bed by providing left and right longitudinally extending, inflatable bladders beneath the occupant support mattress. In operation the left bladder is inflated by a prescribed amount to turn a supine bed occupant to his right. The left bladder is then deflated, and the right bladder is inflated to turn the occupant toward his left. The bladders may also be used in a “turn and hold” mode in which one of the bladders is inflated, maintained in its inflated state for a period of time, and then deflated without a similar inflation and deflation sequence being applied to the other bladder. This mode of operation may be used to, for example, assist a caregiver in turning a bed occupant from supine to prone or vice versa. However introducing lateral rotation bladders into a fluidizable bed, whether to carry out lateral rotation therapy, “turn and hold” or for any other reason would defeat the many benefits of using a fluidizable bed.